"The Little Mermaid (Junior)" 2022

For the second time in the past few years, one of our nephews performed in his elementary school's production of The Little Mermaid Jr. (Apparently, it was originally supposed to be run two years ago but was delayed—like many other things—due to the pandemic.) Eight-year-old Christian played two roles: a sailor and one of the fish (fishes?) under the sea.

It was a fun evening out. I'll be darned if elementary school productions aren't just as entertaining as junior high or high school ones. Christian had a blast, which is probably the most important thing.

Improvables: Thirteenth Anniversary Show

They are still letting us do live improv these days, pandemic and all. We've done Improvables so long now that we recently passed our 13th anniversary, which at the same time also marked the beginning of our 14th year of performing together in Davis County.

Anyhow, our annual reunion show—canceled last year because of aforementioned circumstances—returned this year and took place on Friday, March 11, at the Bountiful Davis Art Center. Biz, Ian, Ryan, and Steve came back for a night to take the stage along with current players Keenan, Parker, and Ricky, musician Willis, and MC yours truly.

Among the highlights were this game of "Advice Panel," featuring the return of one of my favorite characters: Janice, as played by Biz.

Another was this game of "Greatest Hits," with songs about magicians. It included a song and dance number by Steve as Britney Spears, for which I promised I wouldn't post a picture of online. I guess you'll just have to take my word for it.

All told, it was another enjoyable reunion show for our gang. We're looking forward to the next one in 2023!

Jenna's Mission Call

Our soon-to-be 19-year-old niece Jenna is going on a mission! Her call from Church headquarters arrived yesterday, and we gathered as family and friends to watch her open and read it.

And the winner is: Texas Fort Worth (English speaking)! We are very excited for Jenna and are confident she'll have a wonderful experience over her upcoming 18-month period of service.

Plowman Family Dinner/February 2022

On Sunday, we gathered for monthly family dinner at Biz's and Jeff's home in West Bountiful. Pasta was on the menu, with JB providing a majority of the dishes. We also had garlic bread, salad, fresh vegetables, and a number of other goodies.

One of the highlights for me was sitting at the kids' table with JB and being entertained especially by six-year-old Danny. At first, he displayed some reluctance to eat everything on his plate. When we took a page from A Christmas Story and encouraged him to show us "how the little piggies eat," he was more than happy to comply and really got into it. (Kylee helped.)

All told, it was another wonderful evening spent in the company of family. Those have been few and far between during the pandemic, and we don't take them for granted anymore.